THURSDAY, october 5, 2017 Vol. 74, No. 40
Serving Fort St. John, B.C. and Surrounding Communities
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ride for disabled big winners
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alcan craze a history buff’s delight
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monster mash
Salvation Army leadership in flux
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Aleisha Hendry ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
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The eighth annual Fort St. John Zombie Walk, hosted by the Fort St. John Kin Club, saw about 75 participants this year and brought in 143 pounds of food for the Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society.
Residents flood Site C meetings 9224 100 Street, Fort St. John, BC (250) 785-0463
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Utilities commission collects thoughts as final deadline looms matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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Secrecy, international climate treaties, jobs, alternative energy, productive farmland, environmental economics— North Peace residents had plenty to say Sunday about the Site C dam. Around 60 people turned out to the Pomeroy Hotel for for the first of two public input meetings in Fort St. John this week, where 17 speakers took to the microphone, most of them opposed, to give their thoughts on the dam to the BC Utilities Commission. Many were happy the commission was finally reviewing the project after its oversight was stripped by the 2010 Clean Energy Act. “As a ratepayer and taxpayer of B.C., I resented the fact the Liberal government gave the go-ahead to Site C without letting the BCUC do its job,” said Ruth Ann Darnall, chair of the Peace Valley Environment Association, formed in 1975 in opposition to the dam. “If Site C was such a good idea, it should have been scrutinized. I’m so glad its being done now.” The NDP government has ordered the commission to study the costs of continuing or stopping construction on BC Hydro’s $8.8-billion project, approved by the BC Liberals in 2014 and now two years into construction on the Peace River outside Fort St. John. See SITE C on A4
Closure sought on half-century saga matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
From workers to landowners to mayors, residents made clear to the BC Utilities Commission they are wanting one thing when it comes to Site C: closure. Nearly 100 residents turned out to the second of two public meetings about the dam on Monday, a meeting that may prove to be the last in a decadeslong saga since the dam was first proposed in the 1950s. The commission is undertaking an accelerated, six-week study of Site C at the behest of the new NDP government, which will likely decide by the end of this year whether to continue or cancel construction. That’s not enough time,
said Sean Bennah, a mining engineer who said he came to Canada for work. Such a study needs at least a year, Bennah said, but if commissioners are to file their report within a month, he, and others, urged them to be cautious in their deliberations and with the mountains of information and numbers before them. While Site C risks running over budget and off schedule, no project is ever on time or budget, Bennah said. “We cannot satisfy everyone. It’s impossible, but we have to make the best decision,” Bennah said, noting other sources of energy, be it wind or geothermal, come with environmental costs just like hydroelectric development. See CLOSURE on A5
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Plans to amalgamate the leadership of the Fort St. John and Dawson Creek Salvation Army has gone by the wayside. Three months after captains Sheldon and Sharon Feener left, the Fort St. John operation has seen two sets of leaders in and out of its doors. “It’s gone through a bit of a state of flux,” said Cpt. Dave McPherson, Salvation Army area commander for B.C. North. “We have been looking at the possibility of circuiting those ministries, Fort St. John and Dawson Creek. Sometimes what looks like a great idea on paper doesn’t necessarily work out as well as you’d hope in practice.” The Feeners left the Fort St. John Salvation Army at the end of June. Dave and Kim Maandag from Vancouver Island held the fort in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek for six weeks while waiting for new leadership to arrive in mid-August. See SALVATION on A3
FSJ woman recovering from serious fall in Cambodia Aleisha Hendry ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
A Fort St. John woman is in serious condition after falling from a balcony in Cambodia last month. Jesse Lynn March, a 31-yearold first aid responder, had been travelling throughout Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for the last four months when she fell on Sept. 18. Her injuries include two fracture hips, a fractured pelvis, a broken left arm, three cracked ribs and internal bleeding. March is currently recovering from surgery in a Thailand hospital, and it will likely be weeks before she can return home. See FALL on A3
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